3DS is go!

I know it’s N64 week month, but there is some big news that you need to hear!

At Nintendo’s Press Conference that happened just now, they announced that the Nintendo 3DS will release on February 25th in Japan, for 25,000 yen (about $300).  It will launch in the US and Europe in March.  If I had to guess I’d say it’ll be $250 for the US.  Hopefully, anyways.

The launch colors (for Japan, anyway) are Aqua blue and Cosmo black.  I was hoping for Red, so I might have to exercise some serious self-control to wait for that one.  Although, they haven’t announced the colors for North America yet, so we’ll see.

When the system launches, they will have GameBoy and GBA games for Virtual Console!  Hooray!  They are also making many classic games in 3D, possibly even Link’s Awakening, the best Zelda game ever!!  So cool!

Here are some other cool features!  It will include a Mii Creation Studio to create and probably import Miis.  In fact, you can use the built-in camera to take a picture of your face, and the studio makes a Mii for you!  Holy crap, that’s amazing!  You can also download the Mii data (in the form of a QR code) to an SD card to post it on a website.  From there, other users can scan the image with their own 3DS to import your Mii.  Holy awesomeness!

The new and improved Tag Mode lets multiple games keep small pieces of data ready for when someone passes by.  For example, in Animal Crossing, you could send anonymous letters and gifts to people as they pass by you in real life.  This all happens while the system is in sleep mode.  Cool stuff!  All 3DS games will potentially have Tag Mode options.  Also, the system will automatically download data such as leaderboards, ghost data, and updates, all while in sleep mode.

There will be a variety of Augmented Reality games for the 3DS.  Basically, it uses the images from the cameras and adds objects to the screen that move as you do.  Also, you can take 3D pictures with the camera.  That is so awesome!

There are hints that the system has a built-in pedometer that tracks your steps.  That means I can stop carrying around my regular pedometer.  Its 0.1 ounces are SO HEAVY!!

The system will come packed in with a 2GB SD card.  That’s sweet!  Although, I’ll probably get a bigger one eventually.  Still cool, though!

Some of the games include Ocarina of Time, Starfox 64, Pilotwings Resort, and many others.  No words on release dates or prices on games yet.

So there you go!  Here’s hoping it’s no more than $250, and that it comes in Red at launch!  We love you, Nintendo!

-benjamines